New Delhi December 21, 2007.

Power equipment major Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL), is upgrading the ultra-modern blade shop at its Haridwar plant with an investment of Rs 220 crore to increase the production capacity of advanced design blades to 2.25 lakh for 15,000 Mw sets per annum by 2009.

With this, BHEL will become fully capable of manufacturing advanced design blades for thermal sets up to 1,000 Mw capacity.

Advanced design blades are used in thermal sets for better efficiency and lower heat rate and were being imported prior to the setting up of this blade shop in 2003.

The company has already invested Rs 180 crore on the blade shop.This upgradation is part of the company's plans to increase capacity to meet the country's ambitious power generating capacity addition target in the 11th and 12th five year plans.

BHEL is augmenting its manufacturing capacity to 15,000 Mw per annum by 2009.It is also setting up a new fabrication plant and a central stamping unit at Jagdishpur in Uttar Pradesh.

The new centralised facilities are being set up by BHEL at a cumulative initial investment of Rs 306 crore aimed at meeting vital aspects of power plant equipment manufacture and will help in speedy execution of power projects.

The fabrication plant is being set up to meet the burgeoning requirement of fabricated components and assemblies required by BHEL's major units.

The central stamping unit is being set up to meet the increased requirement of stampings, a critical part of electrical machines, due to the growth in business and market demand for generators and electrical motors.

The demand for stampings is estimated to go up to 130 lakh per year by 2010-11, for which a centralised unit is being set up to get the benefit of economy of scale.

By (Bst.)